Glass Houses Shane's POV
by charrrr
Summary: The first book from Shane's point of view. Currently on hold; not sure how long for.
1. Chapter 1

**So, I tried my hardest to make it as much like Shane as I could. **

**Please leave reviews and let me know if you think I should continue! If I do, I'm going to stick to the book as much as I can but please be aware that I'll be adding things in there that weren't in the book, simply because Shane's not in every chapter of the actual book, so I'll have to fill in some stuff if that makes sense.  
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**_** Rachel Caine owns everything!_  
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I knew I was dreaming and that was the sad thing. I couldn't enjoy this happiness because I knew it wouldn't last; it wasn't fair. I wanted to be happy, I wanted to laugh with Mum and Alyssa, to hug them and stuff myself with the food in the picnic basket. But unlike in some dreams where I couldn't remember the real world, I knew that they were dead and that this wasn't real.

"Yo!" I heard Eve yell from somewhere. I looked around the park but couldn't see her anywhere in the open space. "Shane, I smell the chilli. I know you're here! Get your headphones out of your ears!"

The dream shattered and I woke up on the couch in the living room. I felt like crying - I hadn't wanted to come back to reality, I'd wanted to stay with Mum and Alyssa. But of course, I didn't cry, I rarely ever cried after dreams of them anymore. I yawned and sat up after hearing Eve's boots clomping down the hallway to the kitchen. There was a girl stood looking at me with a bruised face. She looked small and delicate; vulnerable. How anybody had it in them to hurt her, I didn't know.

A cautious look crossed her face - as if she didn't know whether to feel welcome or scared - and she opened her mouth to speak, worry flashing in her eyes. I grinned and put my finger over my mouth to shush her. "Hey," I said, using my gentle tone to try and make her feel a little more comfortable. "I'm Shane, what's up?" I blinked and my vision became more clear as I woke up properly and I realized her bruises were actually worse than I'd first thought. "Dude, that is a badass shiner. Hurts, huh?"

She just nodded, probably not trusting herself to speak. I sat up properly and watched her as she watched me. I couldn't tell what she was thinking, her expression didn't give much away, but I thought she felt a little intimidated because she wouldn't meet my eyes for more than a short second at a time. I still couldn't believe that someone had hurt her, she looked harmless, kind of like an older Alyssa. But even then, the girl only looked young, definitely younger than me… Was she a friend of Eve's or was she here about the room? Probably the latter: I couldn't imagine Eve ever having a friend like this. _Talk to her, _I told myself. _Just say anything, this silence is getting awkward now._

"So," I said. "I guess you're gonna say that the other chick looks worse?"

She shook her head which I knew was going to be a bad idea; she winced at the pain it brought on. "No, I - um - how did you know it was-?" She stammered.

"A chick? Easy. Size you are, a guy would have put you in the hospital with a punch hard enough to leave a mark like that." I tried to keep a frown off my face. I hated it when guys beat up girls - because of Eve and her dad, I knew the effect it could have and leave on the girl. "So what's up with that? You don't look like you go looking for trouble."

She sighed, her eyes staring off into space for a moment as if she was lost in her own thoughts. Finally, she looked back up at me and waved embarrassingly awkwardly as she said, "I'm Claire. Hi."

Man, was she awkward! She just stood there, absentmindedly playing with her own fingers and darting her eyes back and forth from mine. I nodded towards the chair and she slid onto it with a sigh of relief, her feet dangling in the air which just proved how small she was. Watching her, I got the strange sense that she belonged here, like she somehow fit in even though sometimes it felt like even I didn't fit in here.

"You want something?" I blurted out, desperate to have a distraction from my thoughts. "Coke, maybe? Chilli? Bus ticket back home?" I added the last question on as a little joke, but she didn't notice that.

"Coke… And chilli."

"Good choice," I smiled. "I made it myself."

I stood up and walked into the kitchen where I found Eve making up an ice pack. "How's she doing?" Eve asked as I started filling a bowl full of chilli. "You better be being nice to her, she's a mess, the poor thing."

"I've been lovely, as per usual," I answered, earning an eye roll from her. "She's a little awkward, but she seems nice enough, so I think she deserves some of my amazing chilli."

"Whatever." She got a can of Coke and put it on a tray with the ice pack and a spoon. "Give me the bowl, I'll take it in for her."

I gave Eve the bowl and she put it on the tray before heading back into the living room to Claire. I grabbed myself a can of Coke, opened it and took a long drink, savouring the ice cold taste. Then I headed back into the living room and flopped back down on to the sofa, taking another sip of my drink.

I was aware of Eve glaring at me so I looked at her and smiled, knowing it would piss her off. "Yeah, man, thanks for bringing me one too. Dork."

I waggled my eyebrows and shrugged before saying, "didn't know if you wanted zombie dirt sprinkled on it or anything. If you're eating this week."

"Dork! Go on and eat, Claire - I'll go get my own." She shot me another glare but I didn't take it personally, it was just how Eve and I were around each other most of the time, and left the room.

My eyes drifted back to Claire who was taking a tentative bite of the chilli, just like anybody else would if they found out I'd cooked it. It was my speciality, well, the only thing I could cook anyway. I remembered the day Mum had taught me how to cook it, a happy memory that always made me smile. I was guessing that Claire liked the chilli considering she started shovelling it into her mouth as if it was her first meal in years. I raised my eyebrows, surprised because the girls I usually met were all watching what they ate and only ordered a salad or something if we were on a date. Eve wasn't like that of course, but I never really paid attention to her eating habits that much anymore because I was so used to her being around.

"S' good," Claire mumbled when she saw me watching her.

I gave her a lazy salute jokily and settled back into the couch, staring up at the ceiling, glad that my mind was blank (I hated it when everything was quiet but thoughts were screaming wildly at me in my mind). Eve came back into the room with her own bowl of chilli, leaving the room in silence for a few long minutes.

"Not bad," Eve said. "At least you left out the oh-my-god sauce this time."

I sat up so I could look at her, but remained slouching in my seat. "Made myself a batch with it," I said. "It's got the biohazard sticker on it in the fridge, so don't bitch if you get flamed. Where'd you pick up the stray?"

Eve flashed me a look that clearly said 'don't call her a stray, it's disrespectful and you're not funny.' I thought differently, but there you go. "Outside," Eve said. "She came to see the room."

So I was right, just like always. "You beat her up first, just to make sure she's tough enough?"

"Bite me, chilli boy."

"Don't mind Eve," I looked back at Claire. "She hates working days. She's afraid she'll tan."

"Yeah, and Shane just hates working," Eve retorted. "So what's your name?"

Claire opened her mouth to answer her, but I got there first, happy that I seemed to know more than Eve and could let her know that. "Claire," I said. "What, you didn't even ask? A chick beat her up, too. Probably some skank in the dorms. You know how that place is."

Eve and I exchanged a look, silently agreeing that we definitely knew how rough that place could be. Eve turned back to Claire and asked, "is that true? You got beat up in the dorm?" Claire nodded and stuffed more food in her mouth; a gesture to stop herself from having to talk, one I knew all too well. "Well, that totally blows. No wonder you're looking for the room. You didn't bring much with you," she pointed out.

"I don't have much," Claire answered timidly. "Just the books and maybe a couple of things back at my room. But - I don't want to go back there to get stuff. Not tonight."

I grabbed my old baseball and asked, "why not?" It was obvious she was scared, but I was still curious and nosey. I threw the ball into the air and caught it perfectly. "Somebody still looking to pound you?"

"Yeah," she looked down, embarrassed. "Guess so. It's not just her, it's - she's got friends. And… I don't. That place just - well, it's creepy."

_Poor Claire_, I thought. I didn't really know her but I could already tell that she didn't deserve to be beaten up and scared like that.

"Been there," Eve said. "Oh, wait, still there."

I mimed throwing the ball and she mimed ducking, before she asked, "what time is Michael getting up?"

"Hell, Eve, I don't know. I love the guy, but I don't _love_ the guy. Go bang on his door and ask. Me, I'm gonna go get ready."

"Ready for what? You're not seriously going out again, are you?"

"Seriously, yeah. Bowling. Her name's Laura. If you want more details, you're gonna have to download the video like everybody else." I stood up and walked towards the wide staircase. "See you later, Claire."

Eve moaned and said, "wait a minute! So what do you say? You think she'd do OK here, or what?"

I waved a hand at her and shrugged. "Whatever, man. Far as I'm concerned, she's ok."

I looked at Claire one last time, our eyes meeting across the room. She really did have beautiful eyes, not that I'd tell her of course, it'd probably make her want to run a mile because of how creepy it would sound. Instead, I gave her one of my rare sweet smiles, the ones that were crooked and automatically made people smile back because it made me look like a genuinely nice and kind person… If only they knew the real person behind that smile, they wouldn't smile back then.

I didn't wait to see if she smiled back, I just headed straight upstairs to get ready for my date.


	2. Chapter 2

**So I did plan on updating earlier than this, sorry. But wowwwww, I forget how long these chapters are, it took me ages to write this! Haha.  
Please leave reviews.  
I plan on updating at least once a week xo**

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"We don't need milk, Eve," I continued with my side of the argument. "Milk is for pussies."

"You can't cook scrambled eggs without milk, it wouldn't taste right!" She argued her point.

We fell into silence, glaring at each other and trying to stare the other one out to get our own way. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Claire walk in and pour herself some orange juice before handing the carton to Eve. I waited until Eve had passed me the juice until I said, "so. Michael didn't pitch you out."

"No."

I nodded slowly. Truthfully, I had been surprised to find out that Claire was staying here temporarily. Mike was a good guy and I knew he wouldn't have chucked her out on the streets, especially during the night with the bloody vampires around, but I knew he didn't want to draw any attention to us or get himself in trouble, which could surely happen with having a sixteen year old girl living here, unprotected and oblivious to the truth of Morganville. I hoped that Claire wouldn't take advantage of the risk Michael was taking letting her stay here.

"Something you should know about Michael," I said. "He doesn't like taking chances. I wasn't sure he'd let you stay. If he did, then he got a good vibe off of you. Don't disrespect that, because if you do - I won't be happy, either. Got it?"

Claire looked at Eve, who was for once not speaking, before looking back at me. "He's your friend, right?"

"He saved my life," I admitted. "I'd die for him, but it'd be a bit of a dumbass thing to do to thank him for it. So yeah. He's been my friend all my life, and he's more like a brother. So don't get him in trouble."

"I won't." She didn't look away from my eyes and I didn't look away from hers - I could tell by the honesty in her eyes that she had no intention of getting Michael in trouble and I believed that she'd do anything to make sure he didn't. Good. "No milk in the eggs," she added, changing the subject.

I grinned at her, before flashing Eve a triumphant smile. "See?" I turned around and started cracking eggs into the bowl. "Told ya."

"Traitor," Eve sighed and started poking the bacon with a fork. "Fine. So. How was Linda last night?"

"Laura."

"Whatever. Not like I have to remember a name for more than one date, anyway."

She was right about that unfortunately. I did want a long-term girlfriend, to be able to hold someone and call her mine, although I'd never tell Eve, or even Michael, that. I'd never actually had a proper girlfriend because the truth was, I was scared of getting attached and having to lose her like I'd lost my family.

My date with Laura had actually gone terribly. She seemed bored the whole time and barely talked to me, then she'd seemed disappointed when I didn't kiss her after dropping her off back home. I didn't see the point in kissing her if I hadn't enjoyed myself to be honest. "She bowled a one fifty," I said to Eve, shrugging and pretending the date went better than it did.

"God, you're such a disappointment. Share, already!"

"Hey, not in front of the kid. You got the note," I said. It was true that we shouldn't be talking about this sort of stuff in front of Claire, but I'd only said it to avoid the subject of Laura.

"Kid?" Claire asked, sounding hurt. "_Note?_"

I pulled the note out of my pocket and handed it to Claire, watching a frown appear on her face as she read about how she was underage and we had to look out for her while she was here. Claire looked pissed off. "I'm not a kid!" She told me, her cheeks blushing a cute bright red. "I'm only, like, a year younger than Eve!"

"And girls are much more mature," Eve agreed. "So you're about ten years older than Shane, then."

_Funny_, I thought to myself sarcastically, sending Eve another glare.

"Seriously," Claire continued. "I'm not a kid!"

"Whatever you say, kid," I said, trying to hold back my laughter at seeing her angry. Anger wasn't a good look on her, she looked like a little vulnerable kitten trying to look tough: it just didn't work at all. "Cheer up. Just means you don't have to put up with me telling you how much sex I didn't get."

"I'm telling Michael," Eve warned.

"About how much sex I didn't get? Go ahead."

"No bacon for you."

"Then no eggs for you. Either of you."

She frowned and said, "prisoner exchange?"

We swapped pans and started scooping. We both froze when the annoying sound of the doorbell rang, looking at each other with wide eyes. I put my plate down, licked the bacon grease from my fingers and nodded towards Claire. "Get her out of sight."

As Eve started pulling Claire over to the pantry - hopefully putting her in the secret compartment in there - I went to answer the door. It was a policeman, one I'd seen around a few times but somehow hadn't had any run-ins with him. _Yet._ I didn't know his name and he didn't give it. He made his own way into the kitchen, explaining that he was just doing standard inventory.

"Sir," I said, trying to sound as respectful as I could. "There's nobody living here but what's on the roster. Just the three of us." Was it possible that somebody knew Claire was staying here? Surely not, she'd only got here yesterday and at that time of the day nobody would have been outside to see her. And if they did, they wouldn't have recognized her with all those bruises covering her face. I worked at keeping a straight face to hide my thoughts from the officer.

"Which one are you?" He asked.

"Shane Collins, sir."

"Get your third in here," he said, his voice flat and demanding.

""Well, I would, but - Michael's not here. He's out until tonight. You want to check back then…?" I hadn't lied to him, not exactly. I didn't know if Michael wasn't here or if he was still in bed, but I knew we'd see him tonight. It was strange, we only saw him at night, and it was kind of annoying really considering we had to deal with all this sort of shit alone, but there wasn't anything we could do about it.

"Never mind," he shook his head. "You're Eve Rosser?"

"Yes, sir."

He quickly asked about her parents and her job before turning back to me. "You. Collins. Any employment?"

"I'm in between jobs, sir. You know how it is."

"Keep looking," he snapped. "We don't like slackers in Morganville. Everybody contributes."

Yeah, no kidding. "Yes, sir. I'll keep that in mind, sir."

He frowned at me, clearly not liking the mocking tone to my voice. "You left town for a couple of years, boy. What brings you back?"

I frowned back at him as I said, "homesick, sir. Missed all my old friends." I was going to lose it in a minute, my attitude was creeping back, but what did he expect when he was asking stupid questions like this?

Sensing this, Eve cleared her throat. "Sir, I'm sorry, but I've got work in a half hour…?"

"One other thing. Here's a picture of a girl that disappeared from her dorm last night. You haven't seen her?"

He held up a photo of Claire that was obviously took a few years ago. She looked a lot younger and her hair, which was now in a short pixie-cut, was long and curly. "No," Eve and I said in unison.

His eyes looked towards the pantry. "What's in here?" He opened the door and I held my breath, praying that Claire stayed quiet. "You always leave the light on?"

"I was getting some jam when you rang, sir. I probably forgot to turn it off. Sorry," Eve explained nervously.

He seemed to reluctantly believe it. "You ring the station if you see that girl. She's got herself in some trouble. We're supposed to help her get straightened out."

He left shortly after thankfully and Eve helped Claire out of the pantry. "It's ok," she said to her. "He's gone."

"Oh, the hell it's ok," I snapped, frowning. "Those assholes have her picture. They're looking for her. What'd you do, Claire? Knife the mayor or something?" I swore to God that if we got in trouble for her stupidity, I'd kill her. Maybe not literally, but still.

"Nothing!" She blurted, panicked. "I - I don't know why - Maybe it's that they're just worried because I didn't show up last night?"

She seemed to be telling the truth which meant that somehow Claire was on the wrong side of the wrong person. Brilliant. "Worried?" I laughed. "Yeah, that's it. They're worried about you. Right. I'm going to have to talk this over with Michael. If they're going to turn the town upside down looking for you, either you're too hot to stay in Morganville, or we need to get you under some kind of Protection, fast."

"But - maybe the police-?"

"That was the police. Told you. They run the town," Eve said. "These guys work the vamps - they're not vamps themselves, but they're scary enough without the fangs. Look, can you call your parents? Get them to pull you out of school and take you home or something?"

Claire looked like she didn't believe Eve about the vampires, but she seemed to be thinking about calling her parents. "But - I haven't done anything," she concluded, looking back and forth between us. "How can they be after me if I didn't do anything?"_Because that's Morganville_, I thought to myself. "Life ain't fair," I said out loud. "you must have pissed off the wrong people, is all I know. What's the girl's name? The one who smacked you around?"

"M- Monica."

I was aware of Eve saying something, but I blanked her out. Monica Morrell. So it seemed like the bitch had a thing for hurting small, vulnerable girls younger than her. I thought Monica had left town though, I was hoping I wouldn't have to see her again for a while. "Monica," I repeated. "How come nobody told me?"

"Sorry, Shane," Eve said nervously. "We would have - I swear, I thought she left town. Went off to college somewhere else."

I shrugged, trying to show her that I didn't care although I knew she wouldn't believe it. "She probably couldn't stand not being the queen bee and had to come begging back to Daddy to buy her some grades.

"Shane-"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"She probably doesn't even remember you… I- that's not what I meant. I'm sorry."

I laughed bluntly. Eve picked up her plate and said something about there being three plates and the officer probably having noticed, but I ignored her. I couldn't stop thinking about Monica being back in town. She was probably happy being the queen bee again. But the stupid bitch didn't deserve to be happy!

I picked up my plate and left the kitchen, going upstairs to sulk on my own.


	3. Chapter 3

When I woke up the next morning, I almost forgot about the whole 'Monica being back in town' thing. Almost. Once I rolled over and saw the photo on my bedside table of me, Alyssa, mum and dad on Christmas day a year before Lyss died, I remembered everything from last night and let out a moan of frustration.

Not long after I'd stormed upstairs, Michael had entered my room to find me attempting to sort through my clothes and see what was dirty and what was clean. "Eve told me what happened," he'd said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Eve needs to learn how to keep her mouth shut," I'd snapped, before sighing. "Look, man, if you've come in here wanting me to talk about it, you might as well leave right now. I don't care about Monica, she can do whatever the fuck she wants."

"I was actually talking about the police coming round," Michael had smiled slightly. "Monica's made this pretty hard, letting Claire stay here, I mean. If the officer had found Claire… Things could have gone really wrong. I'm sorry I wasn't there to try and cool things down."

"Don't worry about it," I'd said bitterly with a shrug. "You're never around during the day, why should we have expected you to be there then?"

A flash of pain went across Michael's features, but he replaced it with a look of worry. "Do you think I've done the wrong thing by letting Claire stay here? Even if it is temporary… You think I should tell her that she should go back to the dorms or find somewhere else to live?"

I considered this for a moment. Of course, it would make things easier for us and we'd be able to look for another, permanent, housemate. But then I remembered the type of people that lived in this town, we could end up with some freak living with us; we'd got lucky by having harmless, normal little Claire here. "Nah," I shook my head. "She's got Monica after her, she'll be killed if she goes back to the dorms, you've seen her bruises. Besides dude, this is Morganville. You don't know who she'd end up living with if she looked elsewhere, we could be sending her to a murderer."

"Yeah, good point," he sighed. "We'll just have to look out for her then."

He'd left shortly after that, apologizing again for not being there and jokingly asking me if I wanted to talk about Monica.

I stumbled out of bed and pulled on sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt before heading downstairs. Eve would be at work and Mike was probably in bed still, so I wasn't expecting anybody downstairs. Half way down the stairs though, I remembered that Claire was here and widened my eyes when I saw her reading something that looked like a textbook. "What are you doing?"

She jumped slightly at the sound of my voice, and turned to look up at me. "Studying," she said slowly.

"Huh. Interesting." Seeing somebody actually choosing to read something was a strange sight in this house, other than Eve reading her magazines. So to see Claire willingly studying… Not something I was used to. I walked over and turned the TV and X-Box on, glancing at Claire as I asked, "this going to bother you?"

"No." She was quite clearly lying.

"Great. Want to take a break?"

"A break?"

"That's when you stop studying - whatever the hell that is, and actually do something fun. It's a custom where I come from." I dumped the second controller on her book and watched as she flinched and picked it up delicately, looking at it as if it were a bomb. "Oh, come on. You can't tell me you've never played a video game." She made a face that clearly said she hadn't and still looked slightly wary of the controller in her hand. "That is just sad," I shook my head in disbelief. "Now you _have_ to take a break. Ok, you've got a choice: horror, action, driving, or war."

"Those are my choices?" She looked disgusted.

"What, you want girl games?" I asked, offended. "Not in my house. Never mind, I'll pick for you. Here. First-person shooter." I put my favourite game into the console. "Easy. All you have to do is pull the trigger. Trust me. Nothing like a little virtual violence to make you feel better."

"You're crazy," she said, but there was a little hint of a smile on her face.

"Hey, prove me wrong. Unless you think you can't," I didn't look at her as I challenged her. "Maybe you're just not up to it."

She shut her book and picked the controller up again. "Show me what to do."

I smiled slowly as I turned back to her, feeling triumphant that I had got her to agree to play. I started showing her what buttons to press as I said, "point. Shoot. Try not to get in my way."

Claire was terrible at the game at first. Honestly, I was mentally wincing as she flinched at things on the screen, and I was dying to tease her for being so bad at it, but thankfully, I managed to control myself. Once she got the hang of it, she was a little bit better (although not as good as me obviously), and was cheering and laughing with me when a monster went down.

"Oops," I said when she got game over, continuing the game myself. "Sorry. Some days you're the zombie, some days you're the meal. Good try, kiddo."

She watched me on the game for a while, staying quiet until I finally heard her clear her throat. "Shane?"

"Hang on - damn, that was close. What?"

"How did you get on Monica's-"

"Shit list?" I finished her sentence when she hesitated, looking for the right words. "You don't have to do much, just not crawl on your belly every time she walks into a room." I made sure not to answer her question properly, it wasn't something I liked to talk about much. "What'd you do?"

"I, uh… I made her look stupid."

Woah. I paused the game and turned to look at her. "You what?"

"Well, she said this thing about World War 2 being about the Chinese, and-"

I interrupted her by laughing. If there was anything Monica hated, it was being made to look stupid and inferior to others. Of course Monica would hate Claire after she proved that she wasn't as intelligent as she thought, _of course_. Guess there was a positive side of Claire being a geek after all.

"You're feistier than you look, C. Good one." I held up a hand and she high-fived it; the most awkward high-five in the history of high-fives. "Oh, man, that's sadder than the video game thing. Again." I made her redo the high-five a few times until she got it right, before I went back to my game.

"Shane?"

"Yeah?" I sighed.

"Sorry, but - about your sister-"

I acted like I didn't hear her. I was _not_ going to talk about Alyssa, especially to some girl I was only just starting to get to know. Besides, I barely even spoke to Michael about my sister, why on Earth would I talk to Claire? I knew it sounded harsh when I put it like that, but the truth was, I couldn't talk about Alyssa, not even when I wanted to. It too much of a sad subject. I was grateful when Claire got the hint and didn't say anything else.

We fell into silence as I continued shooting monsters and she went back to her studying, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence and my anger over her bringing up Alyssa had now faded away, took out on the game. "When does Michael get up?" Claire broke the silence after half an hour.

"When he wants to, why?"

"I- I figured I might go back to the dorm and get my things," she said quietly.

I paused the game and turned to face her, my eyes wide and jaw set. "What?"

"My stuff. From my dorm room."

"Yeah, that's what I thought you said. Did you miss the part where the cops are looking for you?"

"Well, if I check in, I won't be missing anymore. I can say I slept over somewhere. Then they'll stop looking for me."

"That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."

"No, it isn't. If they think I'm back in the dorm, they'll leave me to Monica, right? It could be a few days before she figures out I'm not coming back. She could forget about me by then."

The girl was fucking crazy. "Claire," I shook my head with a frown on my face. "No way are you going over there by yourself."

"But - they don't know where I am. If you go with me, they'll know."

"And if you don't come back from the dorm, I'm the one who has to explain to Michael how I let you go off and get yourself killed like a dumbass. First rule of horror movies, C. - Never split up."

"I can't just hide here. I have classes!"

"Drop 'em," I shrugged.

"No way!"

Wow, she made it sound like she actually enjoyed school - like I said before, she was crazy. "Claire! Maybe you're not getting this, but you're in trouble! Monica wasn't kidding when she pushed you down the stairs. That was light exercise for her. Next time, she might actually get mad."

My reasoning didn't work. She stood up, grabbed her backpack and said, "I'm going."

"Then you're stupid. Can't save an idiot," I turned back to my game. "Don't tell them where you were last night. We don't need the hassle."

She didn't answer and went into the kitchen. A minute later, I heard Eve coming home. "A plague upon all our houses!" She shouted. "Anybody alive in here?"

"Yes!" I shouted back, still angry over Claire not listening to a word I said. She wouldn't last long in Morganville if she carried on with that 'I will do whatever I want without caring about my safety' attitude.

"Damn, I was so hoping," I heard Eve say in a cheery tone.

They both came into the room but I didn't look at either of them. "Oh, hey, Claire. Where are you going?"

"Funeral," I answered her.

"Yeah? Cool! Whose?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "hers," while nodding in Claire's direction.

It took her a moment, but Eve finally got it. "Claire - you're going back?"

"Just for some of my stuff. I figure if I show up every couple of days, let people see me, they'll think I still live there…"

"Woah, woah, woah, bad idea. _Bad_. No cookie. You can't go back. Not by yourself."

"Why not?" Claire asked.

"They're looking for you!"

I paused the game again and sighed. "You think I didn't already tell her that? She's not listening."

"And you were going to just let her go?"

"I'm not her mum," I shrugged.

"How about just her friend!"

I gave her my _shut up _look which earned me her famous glare. She turned back to Claire and said, "seriously. You can't just… it's dangerous. You have no idea. If Monica's really gone to her Patron and tagged you, you can't just, you know, wander around."

"I'm not wandering," Claire replied. "I'm going to my dorm, picking up some clothes, going to class, and coming home."

"Going to class! No, no, no. No class, are you kidding?" Eve all but shouted.

"Hello? Pointed it out already," I said.

"Whatever," Claire stepped around Eve and disappeared from sight.

"I can't believe you were going to let her go," Eve hissed at me.

"What do you expect me to do?" I snapped. "Handcuff her and force her to stay?"

"Shut up! I'm going after her."

"You do that."

She gave me another glare and left, running after suicidal little Claire.

* * *

**Thank you to **_bekah-lauren'.D, Sian, Shazaleaf and Shans97 _**for the reviews :) xo**


	4. Chapter 4

**I've really neglected this story, and for that I'm sorry. I have to be in a certain mood to write these chapters because they're so long, and I'd kind of just given up on it really, and focused on my other stories instead. I really am sorry for making you wait so long, I'm not going to do it again!**

**I haven't proof-read this so I apologize for any mistakes.  
**

**Please leave reviews! xo  
**

* * *

I was still furious at Claire for seemingly thinking that she was unbreakable and would have some kind of immunity to Monica's violence. She was such an idiot! I couldn't believe that we actually let her live with us. She was going to get all of us killed if she carried on with this stupid carelessness.

But… I knew that we couldn't just kick her out. She'd definitely end up dead then. Well, at least Eve had gone with her to the college, she'd look after her and protect her, right? Eve had a habit of feeling sorry for young girls and doing her best to help her. Take that crazy bitch Miranda, for example. Eve didn't even genuinely like the girl most of the time, but she still took care of her when she needed it, despite Miranda not listening to the advice Eve gave her to try and save her life. It sounded bad for me to say this, but I knew that if Mir carried on living how she was, she'd die at a young age for certain. I didn't like her, but I didn't want her dead. I wasn't _that_ heartless. And just like Miranda, Claire wouldn't last long either if she carried on risking her life for petty little things like her education.

After Eve and Claire left, I went back to playing on my game, taking my frustration out on the zombies; my favourite coping mechanism. The time passed easily as I got into the game, giving me time not to worry about little Claire. When my phone rang, I groaned in irritation and debated whether or not I should answer. It carried on ringing so I paused the game and answered without looking at the caller ID first.

"Hello?" No answer; just a static noise. "Hello? Who's there?" Again, more static.

And then… A voice. A muffled, distant voice that was broken up by the static, but a voice nevertheless. And a familiar voice. "Oh- … Sake. Get- … Up!" Monica. It was Monica's voice. I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at the caller ID: Eve's number. I listened again. "Damn, freak- … Like hell. Does it hurt?"

"What did I ever do to you?" I heard Claire's voice blurt. She sounded scared, yet angry and feisty at the same time.

It didn't take me long to put two and two together. Monica had Claire and was hurting her. The call cut off suddenly with one final crackle of static. I'd had enough experience with danger to know that meant Eve's phone had no signal. Damn, where had they taken Claire?! What were they doing to her?! I'd never underestimated Monica before and today was no exception - I knew she wouldn't be scared to go as far as killing Claire. Her Patron would take care of anything that could get her in trouble. Most people really could get away with murder in Morganville. Unless the victim was a vampire. Nobody could get away with killing a vampire.

Should I go to the school and help Claire? I couldn't phone Eve and tell her Claire was in danger because clearly she'd given Claire her phone. Was there even any point in me going to the school? By the time I got there it would probably be too late to help her. It's not like I could call a taxi to get me there. There was only one taxi driver in town and he disliked me (like many other people that resided here), simply because of who my dad was.

Hell, why did I even care so much? I barely even knew Claire; I was living with her, yes, and I classed her as a friend, but that was it. I shouldn't care this much about her. At first I thought it was because she reminded me of Alyssa. But then I realised she was nothing like Alyssa. My sister hadn't been as 'geeky' as Claire, and had loved to have fun, but she knew when she should listen to me and she wouldn't have gone running off to the same place where the people who wanted to kill her were. So why did I care what happened to Claire? It was her bad decisions that had got her into this mess. I'd tried to stop her; it wasn't my fault she was in trouble.

After ten minutes of thinking all this through - and again hating Claire for her stupidity - I decided to call Eve's phone. "Yo, Shane," Eve's chirpy voice answered. "S'up?"

"Where's Claire?"

"On her way to class," she answered. "Everything went fine, strangely. No problems."

"Are you sure?" I persisted.

"Yes. No problems. Monica wasn't even there, Claire said. So, can I hang up now? I'm driving."

"Yeah, sure." I hung up myself instead.

I hadn't misheard anything on that phone call, I knew I hadn't. I hadn't imagined Monica's and Claire's voices. Claire _had_ run into Monica and got into some trouble. She wouldn't have called me if she hadn't. So why hadn't she told Eve about it? Eve would have, without a doubt, gone batshit crazy on Monica for hurting little Claire.

Jesus, I didn't understand Claire one bit. She was the most confusing, reckless, idiotic girl I had ever had the courtesy to meet. And considering I knew Eve Rosser, that was saying something.

* * *

When I heard Claire get home, I went to stand at the end of the hallway to confront her. I was prepared to shout at her, tell her exactly what I thought of her, but she looked so… tired. Don't get me wrong, I was still angry at her, but I just couldn't bring myself to shout at her like an overbearing older brother or a very good friend would.

"Eve put your crap in your room," I said instead, keeping my voice calm.

"Thanks."

I noticed that she was carrying a grocery bag from the local supermarket and asked, "what's that?", simply to keep the conversation going.

"Stuff for dinner," she replied with a shrug.

I cocked my head to the side, my eyes never leaving her. "For a smart girl, you do some stupid things. You know that?"

"I know." She walked towards me to go into the kitchen, but I didn't move. Did she know that I had heard a part of the call and was mad I hadn't gone to help her? Or had she just figured the call never went through and was pissed because she'd just had a bad day?

"Eve says you never saw Monica," I said, trying to urge her into telling me the truth.

"That's what I said."

"You know what? I'm not buying it," I snapped, my anger finally seeping through my calm façade.

"You know what? I don't care! Excuse me." She ducked past me; I turned around to keep watching her, but stayed in the doorway. She slammed her bags down onto the counter and started plucking her purchases out the bags quickly and efficiently.

After seeing the ingredients she had bought, I said, "let me guess. You're making Chinese."

I expected her to come back with a sarcastic, snappy remark, but she surprised me by staying silent. This gave me the opportunity to _really_ look at her, leaving me instantly regretting being so bitter with her. Her hands were shaking, as was her breathing, and her facial expression revealed that she felt… Scared, maybe? Definitely upset over something.

My anger disappeared and was replaced with pity. "Anything I can do?" I asked gently, trying to sound as kind and friendly as I could.

"Chop onions." I nodded and went to grab a knife from the drawer. "You have to peel it first," Claire said. "Um… I should probably call my mom. Can I use the phone."

"You pay for long distance," I said as I began peeling the onions.

"Sure."

I shrugged and grabbed the phone, throwing it underhand to her. I had a nano-second to think that might not have been the best way to give it her. After all, we didn't want a broken phone from being smashed on the floor. But thankfully, Claire managed to catch it just in time, making me feel proud of her for some strange reason.

We prepared the food as Claire talked to her mother on the phone, blatantly lying to her. From Claire's responses, it was obvious to me that her mom was protective of her - maybe just a little bit over-protective, but I didn't blame her. Claire was small and didn't come across as very strong, and here she was going to a college where she was younger than everybody else. Oh, and living in a town ruled by vampires. Yep, her mom had every right to be worried. Claire switched to having a conversation with her dad, her voice more gentle and caring with him.

When she finally hung up - that call was going to cost her a fair bit of money - I asked, "so, finished lying to the folks?" I popped a piece of grated cheese into my mouth. "Tacos. Brilliant. Damn, I'm glad I voted somebody in with skills."

"I heard that, Shane!" I heard Eve shout, and winced. "Do your own bathroom cleaning this weekend!"

I winced again and shouted, "truce!"

"Thought so," she replied as she came into the kitchen. She looked warily at what we were cooking before smiling, looking impressed. "Oh my God, that looks like real food!"

"Tacos," I said proudly, making it sound like it was my idea. Claire didn't appreciate me taking credit for her work and elbowed me in the ribs. It didn't hurt at all, but I decided to humour her by saying, "ow."

Claire rolled her eyes and glanced out the window at the setting sun. "Is Michael here?" She asked.

"Guess so," I shrugged, wondering why she was bothered. "He's always here for dinner."

Eve joined Claire and I in getting the food ready, and sometime during that time, Michael joined us, fresh from a shower. "Hey," he said. "This looks good."

I opened my mouth to reply but Eve answered first. "Claire did it. Don't even let Shane take credit."

"Wasn't going to!" I retorted, acting offended.

"Riiiiiiight," she said sarcastically.

"I chopped. What did you do?"

"Cleaned up after you, like always."

I saw Michael look at Claire out of the corner of my eye, and make a face at her. Claire laughed, bringing a smile to my face.

We each grabbed our plates and headed into the living room, taking our seats at the big wood table which had been cleared of all the rubbish we usually kept piled up on there. We began eating. The food was _amazing_. So good that I found myself going back for more, eager to eat more.

"Hey, dude," I said to Michael as I sat back down. "When are you going to get a gig again?"

Michael froze for a moment before answering, "when I'm ready."

"Pussy. You had a bad night, Mike. Get back on the horse, or whatever." Eve frowned at me and shook her head, but I ignored her and carried on talking. "Seriously, man. You can't let them get you down."

"I'm not," he replied with a casual shrug of the shoulders. "Not everything is about beating your head against the wall until it breaks."

"Just most things," I sighed. "Whatever. You let me know when you want to stop hermitting."

"I'm not hermitting. I'm practising."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. "Like you don't play good enough. Please."

"I get no respect," Michael said, shaking his head. I took another bite of my taco and mimed playing a tiny violin with my thumb and forefinger together. "Yeah, I know, world's smallest violin playing just for me. Change the subject. How was that hot date with Lisa, anyway? Rented shoes turn her on or what?"

I noticed that he chose a subject I'd easily talk about to move on from the gig-talk, but for once, I decided to let it go. "It's Laura," I corrected him, thinking back to my date. "Yeah, she was hot, all right, but I think she had the hots for you - kept saying how she saw you over at the Waterhouse last year and you were all, like, wow, amazing. It was like a _ménage a trois_, only you weren't there, thank God."

Michael grinned, looking smug. "Shut up and eat."

* * *

As Michael and Eve washed the dishes, I started looking through the video game collection we had, but stopped when Claire came back into the living room and started just awkwardly hovering around the room. "You want to see something cool?" I asked her.

"Sure," she replied.

I led her upstairs and down the hall. I moved aside the picture that hung on the wall between Claire and Eve's room and pressed the button that was there. A door opened on the other side of the wall, and as Claire gasped aloud, I grinned. "Cool, huh? This damn house is full of crap like that. Trust me, in Morganville it pays to be up on the hiding places."

I led her up the stairs, suddenly feeling nervous. I often came up here when I just wanted to block the world out and it felt odd bringing Claire up to my private place, and I was scared she'd laugh or something stupid like that. After all, she did surprise me most of the time. The room crept me out at times, but it was the best room in the house to be able to have time alone, quiet and uninterrupted. I didn't want to take Claire up to my secret hiding place, but I needed to talk to her. As Michael's best friend, I had an obligation to talk to her and protect Mike, and this was the best place to talk to her because she couldn't get away. After some deep thinking on my part, I'd decided that I needed to be sure of Claire's motives. The thought of her being sent by them had come to me suddenly and a part of me had wondered if being suspicious of her was another of my coping mechanism. I think I knew deep down that I wasn't trying to protect Michael; I was trying to protect myself. At dinner, I had glanced at Claire and got lost in thoughts of how beautiful she was and I was wondering how I'd never noticed that before. I didn't need to get involved with a girl like Claire. It would turn out exactly how it always did as soon as I started getting close to somebody: they would leave me, whether it was intentional or not. I couldn't put myself through that much hurt. And that's when I started thinking about her time here in more detail, and the suspicions came to the front of my mind.

"First time I saw this," I said, "and the room back of the pantry, I figured, yep. Vampire house. What do you think?"

She was quite for a moment as she looked around, and shivered from the cold. "Does everybody know about this room?"

"Oh yeah. Eve says it's haunted. Can't really blame her. It creeps me the hell out, too. Cool, though. We'd have stuck you in here when the cops came, only they'd have seen you through the windows coming out of the kitchen. They're nosy bastards." I walked over and slouched down onto the red couch, coughing as a cloud of dust rose up into the air around me. "So what do you think? Think Michael sleeps off his evil-undead days in here, or what?"

"What?"

"Oh, come on. You think he's one of them, right? 'Cause he doesn't show up during the day?" I pressed on.

"I - I don't think anything!"

"Right," I nodded. "You weren't sent here."

Claire looked genuinely shocked, her eyes wide. "Sent - sent here by who?!"

"I got to thinking… The cops were looking for you, but maybe they were looking for you to make us want to keep you here, instead of pitch you out. So which is it? Are you working for them?"

"Them?" She whispered. I gave her my 'don't lie to me' look and she shivered again. "Shane, I don't know what you mean. I came to Morganville to go to school, and got beaten up, and I came here because I was scared. If you don't believe me - well, then I guess I'll go. Hope you liked the tacos."

She turned around and went to open the door, stopping as she realised there wasn't a door handle. "The reason I think this is a vampire's room?" I spoke quietly. "You can't get out of it unless you know the secret. That's real convenient, if you like to bring victims up here for a little munch session."

She spun around to face me and I looked away, not wanting to look at her. "Let me out," she said.

"In a minute. First, you tell me the truth."

"I have! Dammit! You think I'm trying to hurt you? Hurt Michael? How could I? I'm the one that everybody hurts!"

I looked at her then. She was crying, looking hopeless and desperate. Was this genuine, or was she just a very good actress? "And if I was somebody who wanted to kill Michael, I'd put somebody like you in to do it." I noticed that my voice was gentler now, maybe even sad. "Be real easy for you to kill somebody, Claire. Poison some food, slip a knife in his back… and I have to look out for Michael."

"I thought he looked out for you," she said as she wiped tears away. "Why do you think somebody wants to kill him?"

I raised my eyebrows and said, "always somebody wanting to kill a vampire."

"But - he's not. Eve said-"

"Yeah, I know he's not a vampire, but he doesn't get up during the day, he doesn't go out of the house, and I can't get him to tell me what happened, so he might as well be. And somebody's going to think so, sooner or later. Most people in Morganville are either Protected or clueless - kind of like you can raise rabbits for either pets or meat. But some of them fight back."

"Like you?" She responded.

She was good, I had to give her that. I tilted my head to the side and said, "maybe. How about you? You a fighter, Claire?" It sounded like a ridiculous question, really. Little Claire, a fighter? Don't be silly! But even I was stronger than I looked…

"I'm not working for anybody. And I wouldn't kill Michael even if he was a vampire."

I laughed at that. "Why not? Besides the fact that he'd snap you in two like a twig if he was."

"Because - because- Because I like him."

I looked into her eyes for a long few seconds and hated myself for being suspicious of her. Nobody, no matter how much of a good actor they were, could fake that look of truthfulness in their eyes. Claire looked pissed, upset and offended by my accusations and I didn't like that I was the one that had made her feel like that. But even though I now realised how dumb my suspicions were, I was glad to have asked. Better to be safe than sorry.

I pressed the button on the head of the lion-carving armrest of the couch to open the door. "Good enough for me," I said to her, too stubborn to apologize for hurting her. "So. Dessert?"


End file.
